johnson



Patented Apr. 25, |899.

Nu. 623,72I'.

w. H. JOHNSON.

SUSPENDER- END.

(Application filed Max'. 14, 1898.)

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IVILLIAM H. JOHNSON, OF SHIRLEY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO 'IIIE C. A. EDGARTON MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

SUSPENDR-END.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 623,721, dated April 25, 1899.

Application filed March 14,1898. Serial No. 673,722. (No model.)

To all wiz/0m t may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. JOHNSON, of Shirley, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Suspender- Ends,of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to Suspenders for supporting garments; and it has for its object to increase the durability of suspender-ends of that pattern which is. characterized by a clasp made of iiexible material, such as leather, and a sliding button-strap supported by said clasp. The clasps for suspender-ends of this pattern have heretofore sometimes consisted of a short tab or strap made up of two or more superposed layers or strips of leather and provided with a fastener for securing the ends of the tab together to form a loop in which the buttonhole-strap is held. It has been the practice usually to form this tab of a uniform thickness across that portion on which the buttonhole-strap bears, theresult being usually to make a straight stiff bed for the support of the buttonhole-strap whose natural tendency is to assume a curved shape in passing through the clasp. This has caused undue wear on both the clasp and the buttonhole-strap.

The present invention contemplates the employment of a clasp in which that'portion of the tab on which the buttonhole-strap bears is provided with thickened or reinforced edges and a relatively thin center, thus rendering the lower portion of the clasp collapsible and permitting it to accommodate itself to the natural curvature of the buttonhole-strap.

The invention consists in the novel features of construction and arrangement, which I shall now proceed to describe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure l represents a View showing the tab or strap forming the clasp extended. Fig. 2 represents a vertical section through the same. Fig. 3 represents a side view of the same folded and with its ends fastened together. Eig. I represents a front view of the clasp folded with the buttonhole-strap in dotted outline. Fig. 5 represents a front view of the clasp, showing the shape which it assumes in use.

The same reference characters indicate the saine parts in all the figures.

Referring to the drawings, a designates a tab or strap, consisting of two superposed strips of flexible material, such as leather, folded over to form four layers a a and d2 a2, which are secured together by means of two members Z9 b' of a fastener. These members consist of a stud and cap arranged to engage one another when the tab a is folded to form a clasp. In the upper fold of the tab is placed the lower portion of a loop or link c, by means of which the suspender-end may be attached to the shoulder-straps. d is the buttonhole-strap, having the buttonhole-tabs d d at its ends, the intermediate portion of said strap passing through the loop a3, formed when the 4tab is folded upon itself. It Awill be noted by referring to Figs..l and 2 that the two inner layers d2 a2 are cut away in the middle to form`a recess 0.4. This construction provides thickened or reinforced side edges 2 2 on the tab at the portion where the buttonhole-strap d bears and a relatively thin central portion 3'. When strain is put upon the buttonhole-strap, a transverse pressure is produced on the lower portion of the clasp d, which causes said portion to collapse, as shown in Fig. 5, and thereby accommodate itself to the natural curvature of said buttonhole-strap. Such a construction reduces the ordinary wear on the edges of the clasp and on the buttonhole-straps and at the same time reinforces those edges, so as to make them better able to withstand that wear, this object being accomplished without reducing the necessary thickness of the other portions of the clasp.

I claim- A suspender-end comprising a clasp consisting of a number of superposed layers of material arranged to form a flexible iiap or tab,

one or more of said layers being of less exy tent than the others and so disposed as to form thickened or reinforced side edges on the tab, while leaving the center thereof relatively thin, to render the lower portion of the clasp collapsible, and abuttonhole-strap occupying the fold of the clasp and adapted to bear on the side edges thereof.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM H. JOHNSON. Witnesses:

A. C. WALSH, A. G. FLYNN.

IOO 

